1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a winder for a baggage room cover sheet used in automobiles. The winder is constructed to wind a cover sheet, made of leather or the like. The cover sheet covers a baggage room and removably mounts a securing device transverse to the car body in automobiles of van or hatch back type.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, when baggage is loaded in the baggage area of the automobile, it can be seen through a window of the car. The car is not only subject to damage or the influence of heat by direct sunshine, but also to damage from forcible entry into the car for purposes of robbery. A cover sheet which covers the baggage area is devised to overcome these problems.
Various kinds of such cover devices for the baggage area are known. However, in a conventional cover device, a winder of the cover sheet is fixed at a rear portion of a rear seat back so that the cover sheet may be fixed to a latching portion located at the rear of the car body after pulling out the cover sheet. When the rear seat is tilted towards the front seat to enlarge the baggage area or when the winder is removed from the car body for storage, it is possible that the cover sheet will be pulled out of the winder and be twisted or rolled up in a bent condition.
Further, some conventional baggage cover device have an attaching mechanism at both ends of their main body.
Such kinds of references are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,139,231 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,168,094. In these references, however, when the winder is removed from the car body in a state such that the cover sheet is pulled out from the winder, the winder and the attached portion to the car body are constructed to connect with a case. The attached portion of the cover sheet is connected so that it does not lose its torsion force stored by a spring contained in the case. This is achieved by maintaining the torsion force of the spring in the portions of the winder which was attached to the car. By this, in the cited reference, the weight of the case is added to the winder device and the whole weight of the winder device is thereby increased. This affects the operation of attaching or removing of the winder device from the car.
Further, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,601, there is no such case as described above, but a device which locks the rotation of the attached portion of the cover sheet so that the attached portion of the cover sheet inside the winder does not lose the torsion force of a spring contained in the winder. However, this reference has other defects.
In other words, the reference has not only a complicated construction, but also is of a heavy weight and low reliability (accidents easily occurring). Further, since the locking device is contained in a small space, it is difficult to manufacture. Therefore, the device is expensive to manufacture.
Now, another conventional winder will be described.
A conventional winder is secured to a car body by mounting a bracket or opening a hole in the car wall and inserting and securing a portion of the winder into the hole. A clearance is located between the car wall and the portion of the winder secured to the car wall, which requires a special construction so that the appearance of the car is not spoiled or the winder is not able to move off from its bracket. As a result, the weight and the cost of the winder are increased. On the other hand, since the construction of an attached portion of the winder to the car necessitates extending or shortening the distance between the attached portions to secure the winder between the car walls, the weight of the winder is increased, whereby operation is not only disturbed, but also an increase of cost and a decrease of reliability result. Further, manufacture is difficult due to the small size of the winder.